Where Does Zen Browser Store Profiles?
Zen Browser Firefox style profiles on every OS, and the files holding workspaces and themes.
Last updated
Zen inherits Firefox profiles: %APPDATA%\zen\Profiles on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/zen/Profiles on Mac, ~/.zen for tarball Linux (Flatpak sandboxes under its app ID). Each random named profile holds prefs.js, extensions, workspaces and pinned tabs.
Zen specific state lives inside the profile: zen-themes.json, zen-sessions files and sessionstore backups plus userChrome.css. Deleting zen-themes.json is the official broken theme fix; sessionstore backups rescue lost windows. Resolve the live folder via about:profiles, since names vary per install and Flatpak versus tarball roots differ. Uninstalls leave profiles behind.
Where Zen Browser stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\zen\Profiles\[random].[name]\
Full profile per install (prefs.js, extensions, workspaces). Registry in profiles.ini/installs.ini (may vary). Resolves via about:profiles. Uninstall keeps AppData profiles; portable builds still write here.
~/Library/Application Support/zen/Profiles/[random].[name]/
Same profile contents; mapping in profiles.ini beside it. Zen state files (zen-themes.json, zen-sessions) inside each profile. Confirm via about:support Profile Directory.
~/.zen/
Tarball root with Profiles/ inside. Flatpak uses ~/.var/app/app.zen_browser.zen (subfolder layout varies by docs version); confirm via about:profiles on either.
Frequently asked questions
How do I back up Zen Browser workspaces and themes?
Copy the whole random named profile folder: prefs.js plus zen-themes.json, zen-sessions files and sessionstore backups travel together. profiles.ini maps names if you run several.
A Zen theme broke the browser. How do I fix it?
Close Zen and delete zen-themes.json inside the profile. The official fix resets theme state while leaving workspaces, tabs and extensions alone.
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